Reddie Oneshots
by Amour2483
Summary: Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak were meant to be, so let's see how they fall in love or how things go between them in many different ways! (potential smut/children and adult stories/Reddie/Stenbrough/Benverly)
1. Secrets Come Out Sometimes

These stories are a collection of teen and adult Reddie stories. I have written most of them as short, simple stories, but if asked to, I will extend them out or make more parts to go along with them. I gave them all seperate titles, but some of them could co-exist in the same plotlines, even if not explicitly mentioned. Smut may or may not appear if I choose to write that, but these stories overall are not about smut. I just wanted to appreciate how much these two mean to me, along with the other Losers. I have no idea when or how frequently these stories will be updated, but I hope to write a bunch! Enjoy!

Secrets Come Out Sometimes

"Richie, I know your secret, but they don't. So I'm gonna take them one by one until you face what you are. Oh, yes, we will float until…"

"FUCK YOU!"

The anger in Richie's voice was so strong that the other Losers almost backed up. That was until they remembered a demonic clown was about to kill them and plenty of other innocent people if they didn't kill It first. So they took turns beating away their fears as Richie fumed from being tossed to the side after his huge hit with the metal bat. Yet, he wasn't ready for what he saw when he returned to the shapeshifter who was desperately trying to gain an upper hand in the battle It was losing.

Richie saw Eddie but with the black, putrid blood that was leaking from his mouth when they came to the Neibolt house a month or so back. The others had no time to process it as Richie slammed the bat down into the skull of fake Eddie with enough force that a huge crack sounded in the huge drainage system. The battle was decided in the Losers favor, even if there were the two scares with Stan and Bill being close to capture and or death.

Richie didn't realize he was doing it, but as they left the sewers, he kept touching the others. He helped Beverly climb over a pile of dirty rags, gave Mike a hand when he climbed up, and he even caught Stan as he tripped coming up the stairs from the basement where the well sat. Once they were outside, they just silently followed Bill and Beverly as they led the other Losers towards the Barrens. Richie walked slowly, recalling what he'd been told by a demonic entity just moments before Pennywise disappeared into the darkness.

'_I know your secret...I'm going to take them out one by one until you face what you are.'_

Finally, he sat down next to Eddie, realizing that his body had naturally chosen to draw him closer to the little asthmatic hypochondriac. Richie almost screamed in frustration of how he behaved sometimes. Somehow, he held in the disgust in himself as he knew that this wasn't the right time. Instead, he focused on being himself as Beverly explained that she knew they would have to come back as adults. He took Eddie's hand and held it for all it was worth as Bill cut his palm and Eddie's face shriveled in pure hatred of how they were mixing blood. Richie wanted to laugh at Eddie or make a joke about how his mom liked sharing fluids.

For once, he just didn't. He stared right at Eddie, taking in the features he was scared to lose. He saw the very faint freckles from his cheeks to his nose. The way his brown hair curled a little at the end where he brushed it to was adorable in Richie's mind. The deep, thoughtful eyes that infuriated Richie when they weren't on him because he wanted to be the only one to enjoy them. Without even commenting on the circle ending, Richie held Eddie's hand longer. Eddie started to pull away but Richie just acted on his true impulses.

Now Richie knew his mouth was a trashy impulse of its own, but his heart was a very weak factor in his life. He had gotten good at ignoring it for years until this damned summer came and made it super hard for Richie to not properly love others, especially when he could lose them, lose him, at any moment if they weren't united. So when his arms wrapped tightly around Eddie and he felt a few tears drip down his face, he knew that he was not weak. He was in love with his best friend and it was impossible to tell his straight friend that he loved him so much in a town full of homophobic assholes.

So instead of saying anything, instead of risking his mouth saying the wrong thing and making his self-doubt and loathing run rampant, he looked into Eddie's eyes and begged him with his deepest soul to follow him as he tugged on Eddie's hand gently. Eddie looked more sincere to Richie than he ever had before, simply turning to the others to say they'd be back in a second before letting Richie led him off towards the water. Richie didn't know why he was doing this; deep down inside, he knew that telling Eddie was never going to work out. Yet he led him on as he thought of how Eddie had done just that to him without even knowing it.

Richie finally stopped right by the water of the stream that flowed from the Barrens all the way into the woods outside of Derry. He ripped a part of his shirt off without thinking, still not explaining anything to the sitting boy who simply watched and understood. It was another trait Richie loved about Eddie; he might pretend he doesn't know nor care what you're thinking, but he always secretly knows what you're feeling. Eddie could tell Richie was actually serious and scared more than he had ever been around Pennywise so he patiently watched as Richie's hand brought a moist rag over and wiped the blood from Eddie's cut and then from his own, knowing Eddie would hate the cross contamination more. Finally, almost an hour after seeing his fears aloud, Richie decided that he would die or face them.

"Eddie, I never mean any of the jokes about your mom. Not a single one. I think I just like the attention I get from you for making them. I wish I could stop seeing her actually, because I wish you lived with me instead of her. She's messing you up, Eddie, and I hate seeing how small she makes you feel when in all truth you're the bravest person I know. That includes Molly Ringwald and Buh-buh-billy. I really like that you wear all kinds of colors and shorts that make you seem feminine enough for even Bowers to stare. Yeah, sorry, he's the wrong crowd for hell sure, but if the most homophobic is looking too interested then it says something. To me, I think it says how impressive you are for embracing who you really are, deep deep down. I always told myself that I could never be like you, that I could never be open about who I am. Yet, here I am, confessing it all. Eddie Kaspbrak, I want you to be the first person on this entire insufferable chunk of rock, air, and water that I am gay and you're the one I'm completely in love with."

Richie didn't know what to prepare for, a screaming Eddie or a crying Eddie or a neutral Eddie. He figured that the last one would hurt the most so he braced his entire system for Eddie to simply accept it but not reciprocate and then walk away. Instead, Eddie looked up into Richie's eyes, already seeing the huge tears that Richie was shedding and got up. Richie shut down, refusing to see his one love walk away after all that he'd just said. Instead, Eddie came closer and closer, finally snapping Richie back to reality as he wiped a tear off of Richie's cheek. Richie figured it was the clown and he was about to die but his ears wanted to hear what Eddie or the demon would say before he died.

"Richie, I'm not sure about my sexuality yet, but I think I love you too."

Richie was ready for teeth to rip apart his face then. It seemed way too perfect that this could be Eddie and he knew what Pennywise was capable of, so he silently thought of how much he loved the real Eddie in preparation of doom. Richie was never very good at seeing what was right in front of him and what was really the truth.

Eddie leaned up and kissed Richie's chapped lips, electrifying the boy. Richie didn't hesitate anymore; he finally saw Eddie was Eddie, not a clown and not a dream. So he wrapped his arms around the little waist he had always wanted to hold and kissed back, letting his years of hidden emotions drive him. Finally, they stopped for air, which was when they remembered that the others were probably worrying about them. Richie didn't know what they were now, how Eddie wanted to address this with the others, and what in the actual hell as he was going to tell his parents, but Eddie made it easier. He took Richie's hand, causing the tall, lanky, dark-haired, trash talking comic to simply smirk and place a kiss on Eddie's flushed cheeks before they started walking back to the other Losers, hand in hand.


	2. Game Day

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: Nunito,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Game Day/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hello, my adoring fans. Don't ask for autographs, I have a hand injury from last night with our dear Eddie's mother."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ew, shut the hell up, Richie."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Aw, Eddie-spaghetti, it's alright to be sad when you hear me make sweet love to your mother, but don't let it affect you all day, okay, champ?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Richie, why are you always fucking late?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie hated how Richie always showed up five to ten minutes later than he promised. Once he had told Richie to show up to a movie at three and he rolled into the movie exactly forty minutes late, calling out for Eddie so he knew where to sit. To say the least, he managed to not shut up and ruin the entire ending for everyone as he goofed off. That was just one of the hundreds of times Richie had been too focused on being the center of Eddie's attention to see that Eddie didn't want the spotlight on either of them. The entire relationship that exists between the two young teens was Richie silently pleading for Eddie's love while Eddie was annoyed with Richie; an unfortunate set of misunderstandings that were years long. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I set no alarms, forgot to pack until I woke up, and still had to take time to make breakfast for myself. I am here though, so I consider this event already a success."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The other Losers simply rolled their eyes and told Richie to 'beep beep' as he forced his way into the hammock, ignoring Eddie's insistence for him to sit elsewhere. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Richie, I swear to god, can you for once sit somewhere that isn't next to me? We do this every game day and you ruin every game by whispering weird shit into my ear. Last time it was about nachos being the murder victims of tacos."/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /span span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ah, but you'll need to know the important facts I share with you. They may save your life someday when the angry parent of a nacho come to murder you."/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /span span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie just looked at Richie, who was now laying in the hammock across from him with a look of pure disbelief at how stupid his best friend could really be. Beverly just sighed and decided to ignore their abnormal dynamic by moving on./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Alright, let's start our official Losers Club game day with the classic: Monopoly. The four we have playing today would be Stanley, Mike, Richie, and myself. Bill and Eddie will be doing properties and the bank. I will be ensuring a fair game."/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /span span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Damn, I was hoping to get payback for Eds here stealing my dear Park Place last month."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""How can you remember that stupid fact but not to set an alarm?!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie's comment earned some laughter from the Losers as he started to deal out money while Bill gave out characters./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie and Richie constantly were the dog and the thimble. Richie chose the dog because he liked the wild aspect of being an animal and Eddie chose the thimble because it reminded him of how he kept the others safe from harm. Of course, once he was mindlessly messing with the thimble in his hands, he realized that he wasn't even playing this time, so he set it back down. Richie saw this all happening as his eyes never strayed from Eddie for longer than a few minutes when they were together. He grabbed the thimble and put it on start. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I will be playing for m'lady Eds. May his blessing be upon me as I try to champion this real estate game in his honor."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie was annoyed as usual but also, he felt a strange note in his mind, as if a part of him actually liked Richie as a knight courting him. So he chose the neutral answer instead of a harsher one./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Beep beep, Richie."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Richie knew that Eddie wasn't actually angry when he said 'beep beep' so he took that small acknowledgement as his proudest action yet. He smirked as the game started. The Losers were mean and serious when they played Monopoly; whoever won got the best sleeping spot, which was the hammock. So far, Eddie had the most times won in the hammock because his skills in finance and property control were so much better than the others. Richie, using his skills of randomness, had never won the game. He knew that sleeping on the floor wasn't that big of a deal, but to him, seeing Eddie sleep alone in the moonlight with a frown on his face wasn't acceptable. So for the first time ever, he wanted to take this as seriously as Eddie did./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""My dear lady Eddie-rella, can I please have the deed I just purchased?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie was shocked to see that Richie had purchased the spot he never used to buy because he said it 'wasn't cool like the others.' But as Eddie leaned over to hand Richie the property, Richie whispered to him quickly. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Blink once if I should buy all of the greens and twice if I should get the oranges."/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /span span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie sat back slowly, thinking about his usual plan that he used to win, and then he blinked twice very deliberately. Beverly wasn't sure what had just happened, so she ignored it and didn't even realize that Richie had just cheated. She assumed he was whispering sweet garbage into Eddie's mind like usual. Beverly knew about Richie's sexuality and his serious love for Eddie but never said anything towards them in front of the others. She respected Richie for having to take his time to realize how to say it to everyone and she felt very proud to be the first person he ever told because he was a good person behind his huge glasses and poor respect for seriousness. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"An hour passed as the game proceeded and in a miraculous turn of events, it was down to just Stanley and Richie. Richie had bought the best properties he could and invested in houses and hotels while Stanley had focused into three key things; railroads, companies, and the blue properties. Richie was holding the dice, knowing fully well that if he landed on either Park Place or Boardwalk, it would be the end of the game. So he led the dice out to Eddie, checking with Beverly if it was okay with her for him to get some luck. She just shrugged and Stanley didn't seem to care as he was counting his money to see if he could survive Richie's hotels on the light blue section. Eddie had no idea why, but he felt a skip in his heart as he rolled his eyes and blew on the dice. Richie's pleased expression earned another jolt through Eddie's soul. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""With this roll, I will become your knight in shining armor!"/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /span span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The other Losers had been excited by the way Richie and Stanley had been playing, so the tension was turned into crazed cheers and chatter as the dice landed perfectly for Richie to get double on Start and avoid the other properties. Stanley had counted his money to realize that it would make no sense to try and fight it if Richie had succeeded in dodging his treasured hotels, so he did what he found to be sensible./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Richie, I don't know how, but you win. I don't think I need to keep playing to know I'd lose."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Richie's entire face was covered in a grin as he sprung up. Eddie's laughter reminded Richie why he had done it all. So he walked around to where Eddie had stood up to help Bill put away the pieces and got down on his knee. Beverly almost spit out the soda she had been drinking and the other Losers all paused to see what new teasing Richie had developed for Eddie. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""My fair lady, I have quested far in the world of metropolitan real estate to claim for you a fine white hammock for tonight's feast. Please accept my humble offering and dub me as your favorite Loser."/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /span span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The others laughed, thinking Richie was kidding, only Eddie remained silent. That's because he saw the way Richie's face faltered for a moment, wincing as his friends thought his true affections were more of his jokester personality. Eddie didn't know what he was thinking, but he knew that deep down, Richie really had planned to win the hammock just for him. He knew that the dirt and spiders bothered him; the hammock was his safest place in the clubhouse. He placed an arm down, tapping one of Richie's shoulders, then the other as his huge eyes shot up to face the little prince he was being touched by. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I dub thee, my favorite Loser and knight. Stand now, sir Richard, for my noble blessing."/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /span span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Richie almost forgot to move; having your crush play into a fantasy you had created for them made him freak out internally. As he finally managed to stand up straight, Eddie made the choice to tease Richie back for all those years of fake sex jokes. He kissed Richie's cheek quickly and then stepped back to see how disgusted Richie would be so he could laugh. Eddie didn't realize in his childish act that Richie was gone with that act. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Eddie. Did you just kiss me?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie never understood Richie's emotions fully but he could see clearly that Richie was deadly serious at that moment. The other Losers had stopped moving completely, opting to watch what was about to happen between Richie and Eddie. Half of them suspected this would end in tears, the other half in anger and yelling. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, my lips aren't just for your sister. I think I'll try them out on your mo-"/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /span span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Richie didn't know his body could move that fast without giving him a heart attack, but he did. His hand moved to cup Eddie's still chattering face and forcefully placed his lips onto Eddie's mouth. The gasps and sudden reactions of the others happened while Eddie lost his mind. He had not expected this to be what Richie did, he wasn't gay because he liked a few girls and he didn't want to give his first true kiss to Richie the trashmouth...but he also felt something in him accept that the unsteady heartbeat, the changed attitude where he joked back with Richie more, and the kiss on the cheek, were things he liked. He enjoyed Richie's company and he cared for him more than the other Losers. So in the heat of the moment, he kissed back, earning an encore of shock from the Losers as they watched Richie and Eddie make out until they had to stop for air. Beverly couldn't contain herself anymore, so she broke the lustful silence between the two. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You guys are Reddie! Richie plus Eddie is Reddie."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Richie only turned to face Beverly and spoke in a calm, gentle voice that nobody had seen Richie use before; it was a product of losing his tense feeling for having secrets from Eddie and from his closest friends./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's cute, right Eds?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie didn't realize it, but seeing Richie turn back to him smiling only for his face to drop instantly and his hands to cup Eddie's cheeks made the little teen know he was crying. He crumpled forwards into Richie's arms for comfort while the others all came over to place supportive hands on Eddie. Something they usually did to feel better was all hug, but the others knew he had chosen Richie for that moment. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, Eddie, what's wrong?! Oh shit, fuck...I took your first kiss didn't I?! I'm sorry."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It wasn't often that Richie would apologize and that only made Eddie's sobs grow stronger and louder. It left Richie broken to think that his usually loud and fun personality disappearing to a serious and flirty one that did selfish things made Eddie so upset. Eddie finally took a deep gulp of air and told Richie why he was crying./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I d-don't want my m-mom to kick me o-out for liking you."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, Eddie, I'd take you home in a heartbeat if that happened. I make big jokes about it but seriously, fuck your mother. She's messing you up with the placebos and lies about your health. I probably shouldn't focus on this after kissing you, but I like you too. I like you so much that sometimes I forget to breathe when we touch. I like you so much that I crash my bike while thinking about you. I like you so much that I want to be with you."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Richie couldn't help but caress Eddie's soft freckles as he wiped away silent tears. He knew that he had already passed the threshold of being honest, so he asked the question he had rehearsed for years without ever planning to actually say it./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Eddie Kaspbrak, I've been in love with you for so many years, so will you go out with me on a real date?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora,serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Eddie's tears still existed, but he knew that they weren't a bad thing anymore. Sure, he was scared as hell that Richie was still joking or that Bowers or his mom would kill them both if they did go out in public together, but he didn't care in the moment. All he had to know was Richie actually loved him and cared for him and wanted to be with him./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-7e5bd8ec-7fff-5556-f4fe-fa98e70ce70c"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora, serif; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'd love to, Richie Tozier."/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lora, serif; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /span/span/p 


	3. Blueberry Vodka

Blueberry Vodka

Richie should've known that having drinks with Eddie when they were a day away from fighting a killer clown was stupid as fuck. He learned this the hard way when two things became quickly apparent to Richie. One; Eddie was a seriously confused adult. Two; blueberry vodka is strong as hell and the most sour liquor Richie had drank in a while. Somehow, Eddie had started the night off normally but before long, he had told a still mostly sober Richie that he was getting a divorce and didn't want to die without being in a good relationship. Two shots had taken Eddie into therapy while leaving Richie there to be an actual therapist because he knew exactly what Eddie had said; years of drinking away reality had given Richie a tolerance to pretty much every alcohol there was. Now it was time for Richie, who had taken another shot, to talk as Eddie downed his third for the night. Richie told himself to hide the bottle from his best friend so they could walk straight in the morning before he calmly explained what he thought of all Eddie had said.

"Eds, you deserve better than your mom-wife, so when we leave here tomorrow, go find someone new. Someone who appreciates all your weird little tendencies, like having to bring an umbrella even if the chance of rain is low or never putting too much ice in your drinks because you don't like the watery final sips. Just go be happy, man, I know I need to as well."

Eddie was drunk, yes, but he was still himself inside of his hazy mind. So when Richie's voice broke a little at the end as he glanced down at his large hands, Eddie was brought back to being sober enough to realize that something was wrong with his best friend. Eddie had known Richie for his entire childhood and they were closest with each other out of the Losers. Richie and Eddie had teased, wrestled, and talked with each other almost everyday. In all those years, Richie only cried twice. Once, when his sister fought with him, and then one day after Bowers had messed with Richie, he showed up sobbing to Eddie's door and held him in a hug so tight that Eddie was scared that Richie would die if let go. So Eddie knew when he saw the damp eyes behind the glasses that Richie had something that needed to be said.

"Richie?"

Richie didn't like that Eddie's voice was so smooth and clear, losing the slurred endings that had been there just a few minutes prior and it broke Richie's final attempt to end this deep conversation before it dropped off into the deep end. Richie looked over, tears streaming down his face quietly, and he just slid out of his chair to go to Eddie's open arms. He took a few steps to close the gap between them and curled into the smaller man's comforting embrace.

"Richie, what's wrong? You can't bottle it up, it's not healthy. We...might die tomorrow too."

Richie gripped tighter at the word die, trying to hold on to the moments that were right then, because Eddie was right. They might not have a tomorrow. So Richie loosened his grip and sat back, taking a deep breath and controlling his tears as he quietly spoke.

"Eddie, I never really felt loved. Not as an adult at least. My parents disowned me after you moved away, so I got my own place and worked as hard as I could to make it out of Derry by 18. My sister didn't really care much about what they said, so she still came to see me for a while, but not too long. She got tired of the jokes, moved away, and we haven't talked in years. I moved to LA, made the whole comedian thing happen, but I still didn't understand it. With money, fame, and happiness, what was missing? Well, I never could see it until I had a dream, about five years ago to this date. I saw you, in your pink polo and red shorts that were definitely too small for you by then, and I knew. I finally felt like I was home. I wasn't missing anything I didn't know, I was missing something I had known long ago: you, Eds."

Richie's mind shut down; five years of knowing what he was and not saying it to a soul out of fear for what would happen came crashing in. His instinct was to run, to hide, to go find the clown and just say 'eat me', but Eddie knew Richie well enough to predict that. So he took Richie's hand in his and rubbed his thumb along the side. Eddie had to say something, something that he had been hiding too.

"I dreamed of you too."

Richie's eyes looked up from the void of shame and fear and loathing to see that Eddie was really there. He wasn't drunk, he wasn't just the clown tormenting him, and he wasn't far away in New York with Myra anymore. He was just pure Eddie Kaspbrak, looking into Richie's red eyes and talking in such a serene tone.

"It was three years ago for me. I was in a dirty, disgusting house and all I could feel was pure fear. It was so powerful that I was about to give into it, but I saw your face as a child. The broken Coke bottle glasses, button up Hawaiian shirt, and dark messy hair. I didn't know who you were or why I was so afraid, but I can still recall the exact things you said to me. 'Eds, look at me! You're brave, smart, and so caring. I'm here, just look at me. Just look at me.' After the Chinese restaurant, when I got in my car, I realized it was a kind of altered memory, I was in pain from my broken arm and I was horrified because the clown was right there, but you had said those things to me. And when I asked you why all those decades back? You had said you wanted to at least die looking into the eyes of someone you cared for. So I know, Richie, that I might not be brave, or smart, or even that caring anymore, but I can still say that I would rather die looking into your eyes than go home to New York and live until I'm 90."

Eddie's tears and Richie's tears fell together for an instance, but both men knew that they wanted each other more than anything else at that moment. So Richie put his hand on Eddie's uninjured cheek and wiped away the tears. Eddie nuzzled into the touch. They both felt more safety and love than they had ever felt in over thirty years. So when Richie's other hand slid behind Eddie's neck, pulling him in close in a deliberate way, Eddie let himself be led into the trashmouth. Eddie had kissed Myra and a few other girls, while Richie had kissed a few different people, but both of them had never felt the way they did in right then. A passionate and deep-rooted emotion came to them and their lips stayed locked in a sweet way. There wasn't any lust or tension, just release. A release of secret glances at each other. A release of dancing around to old songs in each other's bedroom. A release of movies with the Losers where Eddie had to hold Richie's hand or he'd be too scared to watch. A release of everything they'd never said or done.

Finally, they weren't like the blueberry vodka they could taste on each other's lips; they had let go of the sour, harsh way that they'd lived. All because they finally had each other back as a best friend and now as soulmates.

Of course, Mike had a certain skill of showing up at the right time, and he'd heard a majority of their confessions and had his phone in his hand. So he made sure it was silent and there was no flash. He readied his arm and as soon as they were kissing, Mike took a picture. It turned out perfectly, showcasing the love between the two that was so adorable that Mike almost cried. Then he heard the stairs creak as Ben and Beverly came down the stairs to get a drink too. Richie and Eddie pulled apart quickly, Richie trying to act natural as he almost face planted back into his seat and Eddie trying to get the tears off his shirt from where Richie had been sobbing into it. They honestly made Mike laugh, which was when he got caught by their embarrassed and nervous eyes. So he went ahead and started to walk toward them. Richie's natural ability to play off everything kicked in as Beverly and Ben walked into the inn's lounge and bar room too.

"H-hey Mikey! What brings you here right now?"

"I had some extra supplies for tomorrow that I wanted to give everyone. I also wanted to check in on how everyone is."

"I think we're all shaken, but at least we've got each other, right guys?"

Beverly's innocent question was all it took for Eddie to break. He had never been very good at hiding things, especially since he lived with such a crazed mother and then wife.

"I've got to say something to the group, so where Bill?"

"I'm h-h-here."

He came in from the outside, looking a little shaken, but holding a paper boat. It was clear that he had just returned from finding his token, which the other's had finished long ago. Mike wanted to ask about it and the other's were worried, but they knew that if Eddie didn't say what he had to say, he'd end up flipping from the inside out.

"I'm getting a divorce and going to live with Richie when this is over."

Richie was mortified when Eddie said he was sharing something. He didn't think he was ready to leave the closet yet, only letting Eddie know it because he loved Eddie more than the familial way he loved the other Losers. So he let out a sigh of relief when Eddie finished, but then realized the others expected him to speak too.

"Yep. I've got some room, even if the walls aren't thick enough to drown out the sound of…"

"Beep beep, Richie!"

It wasn't that bad of a sexual joke in Richie's mind, but Eddie and the others all just laughed that they all felt the same way towards his humor. And while the others started to talk to Bill about his day and token, Eddie and Richie just looked at each other and smiled, knowing that even if they died in less than 24 hours, they had lived their last day together.

And for them? That was enough.


	4. Street Fighter

Street Fighter

Eddie was getting sick of this routine. He wanted to win for once, just to see the focused, smug look drop from Richie's annoying face. Eddie knew that in pretty much any other game, he could beat Richie every few times, but all morning he had slaved away over this god awful machine in hopes of one simple triumph. With one final blow from Richie's favorite character, Eddie stepped back in disgust, reading the 'Continue? P2' screen. Richie laughed as he turned to Eddie, only fueling an anger in Eddie that was hard to control.

"So, Eds, you want to try again? I think you're almost as good as your mother is at…"

"Shut the fuck up, Richie. I don't want to play anymore."

Eddie knew that Richie had usually taken his outbursts in stride, blowing them off and just hanging around until Eddie's internal fury had subsided. However, today he looked afraid when Eddie lost it. Eddie was shocked to see the change, but quickly realized why Richie looked afraid when he turned around. It was Henry Bowers, right behind him along with Butch Higgins and another boy Eddie didn't recognize. Yet, in the split second he had tried to run, Eddie understood that Richie was only looking at the blonde stranger with fear, not the huge bullies that had tormented them for years. The blonde boy's voice was just as twisted as Henry's when he sneered at them.

"If it isn't momma's boy and four-eyes!"

Eddie was grabbed by Bowers while Butch grabbed Richie. Eddie was beyond nervous about what they planned on doing to them, but Richie seemed angry. Eddie silently pleaded with his friend to control his kicking and screaming as the Bowers trio shoved and tossed them into the alley by the Paramount.

"LET US GO! WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!"  
"Oh, yeah? I never beat you up for being a fairy towards my cousin here, Tozier, so I might as well hit your other little boyfriend to teach you what happens to your kind."

In a split second, Eddie realized that Richie was never angry, only mortified. The little, fragile boy saw his best friend, who he had always seen only as the trashmouth, the clumsy kid who never stopped talking, as a broken shadow of who he normally was. If Eddie could have, he wouldn't paused time and ran to Richie, giving him a hug and swearing that it was okay. Of course, having a huge fist slam into Eddie's head made it hard for him to focus on anything that would help either of them. As he laid there on the filthy concrete, his vision and hearing blurred for a few seconds as blood dripped down the side of his face.

"FUCK YOU! I'LL SHOW YOU FUCKING STREET FIGHTER!"

Eddie's mind didn't know how to register sound clearly yet, but it caught three loud hits, the sound of glass and more voices, and then footsteps going farther away. His view of the clear, blue sky that held huge fluffy clouds felt ironic. Everything looks so nice in Derry, but nothing actually is. Richie's face came into Eddie's view as the ringing finally stopped. Eddie didn't even worry about himself though. He saw Richie had a bloody nose, no glasses, and he was sobbing violently.

"Eddie! Eddie, p-please, are you okay?!"  
Eddie wasn't okay because he knew Richie wasn't. Instead, Eddie scrambled up into a tight, desperate hug with his lanky friend. He knew that Richie's white Hawaiian shirt would be bloody. He knew that his entire face ached and he could get an infection if he didn't clean it. Yet, nothing that he normally would've done felt as right as that moment did. Richie never expected it, going stiff as Eddie's small arms wrapped around him. Yet he caved to the worry that his tiny companion extruded. Richie felt his sobs grow stronger as Eddie nuzzled into his chest and Eddie knew that Richie wasn't in pain. A best friend could tell what was hurt and what was damage; this was deep, deep damage. The easiest way for Eddie to tell? Richie hadn't used a nickname for him.

"Richie, I'm okay, so let's go someplace safe from Bowers and clean up? My mom's gonna kill me if I come home hurt again. Are you okay to get our bikes and go to the clubhouse?"

Eddie figured that Richie was mad that they had been them up for no reason when it was such a nice day, but the depressed look on Richie's face as he pushed out of the hug and nodded said otherwise. The next fifteen minutes were silent between the two, something that had never happened in their years of friendship, as no matter how Richie was feeling, he usually never stopped speaking. They dropped their bikes by the entrance and crawled down the ladder into the clubhouse to find it empty. Richie instantly sat down on the edge of the hammock, rubbing his bleeding nose where his glasses had been smashed into his face. Eddie had never seen Richie get so bloody by Bowers, because he usually got quiet and dodged the nasty bully. Eddie walked over to the shelves they had, grabbing the tin of medical supplies he kept down there.

"Hey Eddie?"

The small, quiet voice that spoke didn't remind Eddie of the person he had been furious at just half an hour ago. Eddie came back over, taking out a clean cotton pad and putting hydrogen peroxide on it to clean out Richie's wounds. The part of Eddie that didn't want to know why Richie was so impacted by this was controlling his body, even if his mind wanted to know more than anything how to soothe his friend.

"Yeah, Richie?"

Richie's hand wrapped gently around Eddie's, stopping him from cleaning the wound and forcing him to look into his eyes as his voice whispered.

"I meant to tell you."

Eddie had been so focused on everything in the present; he had to fix Richie and then himself and get them home, or at least to the Tozier house, without getting caught by parents who would question the injuries. Now that Richie had forced Eddie to think back to the beating and question things, he didn't understand what Richie could mean. Bowers had called them some names, told Richie off for something to do with his cousin and...oh. Eddie's eyes locked with Richie, silently asking him if Bowers was saying something more than just being the asshole who teased like usual. Richie just looked at his ripped up shoes and nodded slowly.

"Richie...it's okay. Can...Rich, just look at me?"

His dark eyes came up from the ground in a way that made it look like slow motion. Without glasses and his joking facade to hide behind, Eddie thought Richie looked older and hotter. Like he was one of the actors in a teen movie about outcasts. Eddie had known for a long time that Richie's joking about his mother and being a lady's man was true, but he'd never imagined that this was why those rambles meant nothing. Yet, Eddie knew what he really felt about that topic, even if his mother would say it was sin and would give him some kind of fatal sexual disease.

"You have nothing to ever be ashamed about. I'm proud of you for admitting it to yourself, even if you weren't ready to share with anyone more, you took the biggest step. I'll always be here for you, Richie, always."

Eddie had no idea why he was crying, but Richie's tears had made him beyond sympathetic. Richie lunged forwards in the same awkward, needy way Eddie had earlier, and Eddie held onto him in a warm grip. After a few minutes, and once their tears had dried, Richie sat back and let Eddie clean up his face. After Eddie finished up with Richie, he pulled out a pair of black, thick-rimmed glasses and placed them carefully on Richie's face.

"Eds, where did you get these?!"

"I went out and bought them. I know you too well, because I figured you might break a pair."

Eddie didn't know why he wanted to, but he wanted to slide his hand into Richie's. He wanted to hold each other like they had done already that day. He figured it was the adrenaline finally crashing out of his system now that the fight and the fear were truly gone for the day. Only, when Richie reached into his back pocket, revealing a secret to which Eddie had no reply, his mind snapped the pieces into place. He wasn't so supportive of Richie's sexuality because he loved him as friends; he actually loved Richie as much as he'd ever loved anyone in his life. And his hand didn't stop Richie when he leaned in for a kiss. And his hands didn't stop holding Richie's as they walked in the door to Richie's house to tell his parents about them. And his heart never stopped beating fast when he looked at Richie's smirking face. Because he felt love for once in a town that had always broken people down.

And because Richie had pulled out a small, blue inhaler with a heart carved into it.


	5. Losers and Lovers

The voices of hundreds of dead, horrified children rang out loudly. The edges of everything were glowing with a hostile yellow light. Richie figured he was dead; _getting caught in the deadlights seemed like it would be good enough cause for my pathetic forty year old piece of flesh to give up._ That was what he figured would happen at least. Yet, he didn't feel pain or nothing, he just felt heavy. He wanted to scream, to yell, to do anything that showed he wasn't afraid, because he honestly wasn't afraid of the deadlights or of the clown or of death anymore. Then he saw Eddie.

"NO! NO! FUCK YOU!"

Eddie's death, to be more precise, is what he saw. He saw the huge spike ram through his soft organs, creating damage so irreversible and horrid that Richie had seen Eddie bleed out in the darkness. Richie didn't even realize that he was scared the whole time; _I'm afraid of loving him because I can't fucking lose him!_ He saw something else then, another scene that unsettled him to his core; Stanley's final bath. The sadness and wisdom both clashing in Stan the Man's eyes as his blood dripped slowly onto the ground from the edge of the cream colored basin.

"IF YOU BELIEVE IT DOES!"  
Richie had known when he walked into the house on Neibolt Street that anything could happen when they came to finally face the killer clown. So, suddenly, as he fell from the deadlights, hearing It making sounds between coughs and screeches, he almost cheered: almost.

"Richie!? Richie?!"  
A smiling little man hovering over him was the second reason he almost cheered. Then his mind stopped being happy about seeing Eddie okay. All he could feel was the time he had left until the drug-like dream he had been in within the deadlights became reality. So, regardless of the fact that he believed his entire foot to be shattered, he jumped up, dragging Eddie towards the cave on the other side of the cavern, where Bill, Ben, and Beverly all looked on in fear. Every nerve and muscle in Richie told him to yank Eddie faster, to make sure that no matter what fucking happened next, Eddie made it to that cave and got out of that goddamned sewer alive.

Of course, he knew he didn't have anymore time; he could sense it like one can tell when they're being stared at. In just one second, Richie thought about what Eddie really was to him. _The first kid to ever call his glasses cool. The only person who still came to his house when his baby sister was puking her guts out and he was scared she wouldn't be okay. The one Losers that would play Street Fighter with him, no matter how many times I creamed him._ He saw the cute dimples Eddie still had when he smiled and blushed brightly. He saw the short red shorts that used to define Eddie's summer attire. He saw the man, whose hand he was holding, for what he really was, and for what he would always be to him: _the love of my life. _

Richie threw Eddie forwards, knowing that there would be so much that he wanted one more of that he couldn't have. _No more days in the creek by the Barrens. No more ice creams in the park or while the parades happened. No more jokes while biking to the Paramount. No more days with his hand right by Eddie's in the hammock while the sun lit up the little angel's face. No more anything, because the claw was fate that I have to face if I want the happiness he has left to remain in his life._ Pennywise didn't realize it, as the entire entity was only acting in rage, but when his claw did rip through Richard Tozier, he was smiling at Eddie. Beverly screamed out and the others all reacted, but Richie saw that Eddie was frozen, just as he had been when the reanimated Stan head bug attacked. Richie knew that he was about to face his final moments, his one love so mortified that he couldn't move, and he still had to go out as himself.

"H-hey Eds...you think your mom will s-still like me when I'm a h-holey m-man who can't fuc-k her?"

The demon he was currently stuck around didn't appreciate his fine humor, opting to rip apart more of his system by pulling back and shaking him off, cackling in a virulent way as his body rolled down into the cavern near the entrance. He heard the yelling demands coming from Bill for everyone to get over to him. When he first got stabbed, there wasn't any pain because of adrenaline; _saving Eddie Kaspbrak's weak ass took a lot of energy, you know! _The moment it really hit him was when Eddie came over and helped sit him up and pull his hand away from his friend's lanky torso to find it covered in a warm, maroon liquid. Eddie and Richie's eyes stayed locked as the others came in. Richie knew that Eddie was talking to the other's about killing It, because he could see Eddie's thin, pink lips moving, but he was too focused on not dying at that moment to understand what was happening.

"...that way he is right at the exit when we are done killing this fucking clown."

_The bravery. The authority. Why, could it even be his little Eddie Spaghetti all grown up!?_ Richie's stupid mind raced with good chucks that demanded attention, but when Eddie's arm wrapped under him, Ben taking the other side, it switched over to one, chaotic, unstoppable belief: _I have to tell him_. Even as Richie was placed right by the tight opening out of there, he weakly protested what was happening because he couldn't protect Eddie or get his single thought out over the others being so loud.

"E-eds...Eds...Eddie…."

"Richie, put pressure on your wound and don't move. I swear, we are gonna kill this motherfucking clown for you, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can."

"EDDIE!"  
He stopped, looking scared of the way Richie sounded, as Richie never sounded deathly serious on any occasion. Richie's comedian and child-like mind snickered at 'deathly' serious, but his very small section that was based on being just over forty kicked in strong enough to take charge.

"C-come here, Eds. I gotta tell you something in case I...in case I die."

Richie hadn't noticed it from when he was manhandled to his current place on the rocky floors, but Eddie was sobbing. It broke Richie more than the fact that his abdomen was leaking to know he caused Eddie to cry as an adult man, but he didn't have time to fix himself before he spoke. _Time is of the essence when murdering a galactic circus freak and dying rapidly._ He opted to simply whisper the deepest part of his soul to Eddie instead.

"Eddie, I'm gay. I've kn-known since the last time we fought h-here. I've been hiding it all my...life."

Eddie's eyes had widened a little, his hand slipping into Richie's. Richie would have cried and blushed at the same time if that was under any different circumstances, but he kept speaking to stay awake at that point; _blood loss really doesn't make this shit easier to say._

"I love you, Eddie Kaspbrak. Never loved your mom or any other woman for that matter, because your pretty little face and your hot little body were all that came to mind. So, if I die here, I want you to know that no matter how much you might miss me, I'll be thinking of you. I did it years ago when we were kids and I think this shows I always will. I really love you."

His body didn't want to cooperate with his urges to end his quick, messy confession with a kiss. So instead Richie just kissed Eddie's hand in a meek lifting action that ended with his hand falling limp at his side. His entire system was done fighting, even if his mind demanded he return to hold his lover's soft, dirty palms. Richie figured he would die seeing Eddie, which was enough for him. _Richard 'Trashmouth' Tozier dies in a disgusting sewer-cave thing while looking at a sad, little man he loved very much._

With those final words said, his final chuck acknowledged, he closed his eyes and prepared to let go of his insistence to live. That's when lips met him in a quick, passionate kiss. Richie's eyes flew back open, seeing Eddie's tinted cheeks right there but moving away. _Am I already dead?! Because heaven seems like a downgrade if that's what I would be missing!_

"Richie, pressure on your wound. I'll be back. You better still be alive."

With that, Richie's mind was okay with his body's obnoxious, continual complaint about passing out. Things went dark and heavy and the last thing that Richie could remember before the dark was what he felt: love.

* * *

Eddie Kaspbrak was ready to die before he'd leave Richie down there; so he took the chances that carrying him would have. He dragged and piggybacked the tall, slightly heavy, man's body all the way to the well. That's when Mike finally took over, pulling Richie's limp arms up with Eddie's help and going ahead and running. Eddie was the last one to jump out of the house before it collapsed inwards, barely managed to get off the chunks of grass that fell in on top of the rotten wood and dusty glass that remained of the Neibolt house. If he would've had time, Eddie probably would've stood there for a while, thinking about how dangerous a pit was when it was full of debris. Yet, he had to worry about more important things, such as Richie. He placed himself over top of the pale, unresponsive figure and started touching one dirty, bloody cheek, trying desperately to have him sit up and be fine.

"Richie?! Richie, hey, come on, wake up! We are out, the clown's dead. Guys, he needs help!"  
"Eddie...honey….he's dead."

Eddie had never doubted Beverly's intelligence or honesty, but when she said that one word, something snapped in him. He felt a rage and a sorrow unimaginable to any of the other Losers. He screamed out a completely broken, guttural cry before sobbing onto Richie's chest. His tears were loud and his body quaked with each uneven breath, but the others didn't say anything. They just all held him or placed a hand of mourning support onto Eddie. They were all losing Richie, even if Eddie felt it was more personal for him, he still felt so much relief that others knew how amazing Richie Tozier really was. Eddie figured that even if the others were there, he needed to tell Richie one last thing before he'd ever accept the devastation this death would cause him.

"Richie...I love you too. I have no idea how I never realized it as kids, but I had loved you then too. I was so annoyed with your joking and constant talking that I forgot how sweet you could really be and how attractive your style really was. You made me feel safety and freedom when I lived with fear and anxiety. I wish I could have known you loved me all those years ago, because I would've chosen you. I still plan on choosing you now; I already sent Myra a text two nights ago saying I was done pretending I'm not interested in guys and girls and I'm planning on leaving her because she's a disgusting copy of my dead bitch of a mother. I don't care how lonely I'll be, because I know you'll keep your word. You'll always be my loser and my lover and I'll think of you until we're together again."

Eddie heard sniffling from Beverly, as Ben held in her close and Mike and Bill watched with tears in their eyes. _How the fuck did we deserve this hell we've been living in?_ With his final words of true love gone, Eddie simply leaned in and kissed Richie's mouth, remembering the way his eyes opened when they had kissed in the cavern. He thought of the liveliness he would never see in Richie's eyes again or the way he would never hear Richie's booming laughter after he finally told a good joke back against the comedian. The kiss wasn't one of longing or sorrow, but remembrance, so Eddie made sure it was gentle and soft. _HOLY FUCK!?_ Only his body flew backwards after a few brief seconds, scaring the others who were still feeling raw loss and compassion for Eddie's lost soulmate.

"Guys, Richie's not dead! He's still breathing so faintly!"

* * *

Running into a hospital covered in blood and dirt, Eddie held onto Richie's hand while Ben and Mike carried him. The poor lady who was behind the desk spit out the coffee she was drinking, as it was about 8:30 in the morning when they made it to the local hospital. She hit a button to open some doors and then ran over to them, clearly panicking, but managing to remain a health care team member who knew what her job was regardless.

"What happened to him?"  
Beverly had been the most logical in that moment, so she was the one who talked, the others simply nodding along.

"We were visiting a childhood hang out when it collapsed. He got impaled by this huge beam and we had a really hard time getting him out here, so please help him!"

The emergency trauma team was already there, placing Richie onto a huge stretcher and starting all kinds of things, including breathing mask and IV. It was sickening for Eddie to see Richie, the kid who never got hurt worse than a cut or bruise, in the same place his mother used to take him to torture his body and mind. It reminded him of the worst of his life, but this time, it really was. The horrid place was his only choice to see Richie saved, but if he died in this sterile, morose place, Eddie wouldn't be able to handle it. The doctor finally told the team to move him to the emergency surgical wing, which is when Eddie started to follow. It broke Beverly's heart to do it, but she grabbed Eddie and held him back.

"Honey, you can't go with him, but they'll make sure he's okay."  
Beverly later told Eddie that when his red, wet eyes locked with hers, it was the most afraid she had ever been. Eddie had of course asked her why and she told him that she saw someone who was alive appearing so depressed that they looked dead. In the hallway right past the doors to the Emergency Center waiting room, Eddie hit the ground and sobbed into Beverly's embrace, feeling as if nothing would ever be good in the world again if he didn't see Richie's smiling face.

The others finally pried Eddie from Beverly and led him over to a couch in the waiting room. Without a word said between them, they figured that Eddie shouldn't be left alone or he might do something dumb or something bad. Bill took the first shift, sitting on the couch with Eddie's sobbing head on his lap while he imagined a book with an ending happier than this; one where they all find love and solve the murder mystery and ride off into the sunset in convertibles. That only made him feel worse, as he imagined Richie's fancy red sports car sitting empty and alone at the Derry Inn. Eddie felt the way Bill tensed up as he started to cry too. The others had gone out to the car Bill had let them used to drive there and went to get clean clothes and food for them all.

* * *

After about four hours, a bunch of staring from other people as Eddie tried to get a hold of his emotions, and some drive-thru burgers, a doctor came out into the waiting room in scrubs that had plenty of blood on them. Eddie was extremely dehydrated from crying and generally exhausted from the past few days of terror that had afflicted them all, but he was up and right at the doctor's side as soon as he saw him. Bill was outside, calling Audra to say that he loved her and wanted to fix things with her. Mike and Ben chatted while Beverly was watching Eddie from under Ben's arm; she figured that this was his news to hear.

"Are you a relative of Richie Tozier?"

Eddie figured that Richie would tease him to no ends if he said what he was about to say, but even then he couldn't help but say it.

"I'm his significant other; please, is he okay?"  
The doctor's focused expression didn't change. Eddie almost heard Richie's voice in his head, talking just like he would in that moment saying, "Who pissed in your cereal this morning, dude?!" He wanted to laugh and sob and scream all at once, but simply looked into the doctor's eyes for the first time since they had started this conversation. The dark, almost black, irises didn't help him appear hopeful.

"He's got a huge amount of internal bleeding that had to be taken care of, his digestive tract had to receive multiple repairs to punctures, and his skin will most definitely scar, because he had tons that appeared ripped off. It might help us know what to do next if you could please explain how he got so badly impaled?"

It took all of Eddie not to break down again, but this time, he knew for sure that Richie was stable for the moment. So he did all he could do; he lied his most convincing lie.

"We were having a reunion as friends, seeing where we used to hang out and all. One of the places was an abandoned house, but we didn't know the floors were so weak. He jumped once and the flooring caved, which caused almost all of the house to collapse. We had to fight the huge beam that hit him just to get him out of there. I...can I see him?"

The doctor knew protocol, no visitors were supposed to be admitted in unless they were married or given familial consent. Richie's parents had been long dead, as his records showed, and his distant family was non-existent. Based on the only information the doctor had heard directly after surgery, Richie had crazy fans from being a comedian, so he had to wonder if this guy was another nutty fan. Then he really looked at the man he was in front of. There was no sign of excitement on his face and he had this air about him that told the doctor that this wasn't faked; he really was Richie's significant other or he truly loved him. He even took a moment to look up and scan through the group of four, all standing together watching him, nodding and holding each other's hands in worry and silent prayer.

"Sure, but I can only let you back. They can't come with you, so you should let them know how he's doing: stable, but still not out of danger."

Eddie knew that he was lucky as hell that doctor was a good man and a man who took love for what it was. He nodded slowly and hurried over to tell the losers what the story was and how Richie was doing. Eddie was given a quick hug by all of them, as they had decided to go ahead and go find a few hotel rooms nearby to stay at. They knew deep down that Eddie wasn't going to leave and they couldn't spend forever in the waiting room so they simply told him to stay safe and make sure Richie was okay. Eddie loved his friends, more in that moment than ever, because they understood what his purpose and passion was right then: to see Richie back to his normal self and be in love for real. Mike told him one last thing before he left, and it really did make Eddie feel like things weren't as bad as they seemed for the Losers.

"Remember, everything goes better if you believe it will."

"Sure thing, Mike...I believe."

* * *

Three days later, Eddie was stuck in his fifth nightmare. Having little energy from sudden events out of his control and involving a killer demon clown, Eddie spent a lot of time sleeping at the edge of Richie's bed. When he wasn't sleeping, he was eating hospital food by Richie's side or using the bathroom. The final thing he did was just whisper to Richie; the man he loved was in a coma-like state, but nurses claimed they heard stories of people knowing every word said to them in a coma. Eddie didn't want to think of Richie being trapped in his body, so instead, he made up his own little conversations. He'd whisper all kinds of things and leave pauses where he'd imagine Richie would answer.

"Hey, Rich, you think I should get another pair of those red shorts like I had when I was a kid?...Of course, another mom joke? You're lucky I love you….."

What Eddie didn't realize was that this was another hallucination, a false reality inside of his mind that was torturing him. When he said those last three words, the sound of the heart rate machine went to a still, letting out the destructive pitch that meant only one thing. Eddie screamed, watching as Richie simply disappeared, leaving his glasses as the only thing on the hospital bed.

"NO! NO! NO!"

Of course, he jolted awake like he did everytime, seeing that Richie was still very much alive and his glasses were still resting on the bedside table. Eddie didn't know why, but this bruised man without his classic smirk and huge ass glasses wasn't his Richie.

"Hey, Richie, baby? I'm gonna put your glasses back on you. Just for a little bit, okay?"

Eddie was an adult man; he knew that whether Richie was able to have his glasses when he was in a coma made no difference. Yet, it soothed the constant anxiety that Eddie had over his safety just a little to have him looking more like him. The way that Richie's face had been positioned almost made it look like he was just resting his eyes for a moment. Without the mask and the hospital gown, he'd look like a sleeping commuter that Eddie saw on the subways of New York all the time. _Fuck New York and the woman I never want to see there again._ Eddie had divorced Myra the first night he was in the hospital with Richie; sending a digital copy to her with the reason being 'fuck you, I'm gay, you're uglier than my mother, and I'm boning my best friend' which in hindsight, was a poor decision. Either way, she must have signed it and sent it in, because she answered his thing saying, 'you'll die without me, but I don't want to be married to a gay cheater.'

"Richie, you must think that was hilarious...you think everything is a joke, but it's okay. Laughter...is all it takes sometimes."

Eddie slipped his hand into Richie's, rubbing small, delicate circles over his knuckles. Eddie figured that in another day or two, they would declare Richie brain dead and ask Eddie to pull the plug. Eddie would never do it without the others, but he knew that Richie would've wanted to go peacefully if it was that situation. Or maybe, Richie would stop his fight and be gone, breaking Eddie even further as he watched and sobbed, unable to help or save his sleeping soulmate. All kinds of horrible possibilities ran through Eddie's mind; it came from being a pessimistic risk analyst just a few days ago. A sigh passed through his lips as they quivered, but he figured he might as well say what he felt since Richie could be gone at any moment.

"Richard Tozier, you have a way with infuriating words, did you know that? I constantly think I might have finally gotten you, but you go out of your way to make sure I know that you're the class clown who rules the spotlight. But I never got to say, jokes on you, I love when you want my attention because it means I can have yours. I always knew that you'd want to do something foolish and heroic, but I never imagined you'd fuck with my heart on the way. I...I love you, Richie, I love you so fucking much. If you don't make it, just know that I'll always be yours and nobody else's. You were comfort and love when my mother was wicked. You were a reminder of childhood feelings I could never process but ones that define who I am; you make me proud of who I am. I am so goddamn lucky to be yours, you don't even know. I swear that if you have to...stop fighting...I'll cry happy tears. I knew you as the real you, Trashmouth, and I don't think you'd want me to be such a sap. Speaking of which, I need to stop rambling; it is a bad habit of mine, especially since you think I'm so brave. Anyways, I love you so much, Richie, I really really do. So if you need to leave me, I'll love you forever and after."

Eddie didn't want to wipe away his tears or leave Richie's side yet, so he placed a true love's kiss to his forehead, removed the glasses and placed them gently on the table again, and then leaned down to crying while holding his hand. A few minutes went by where the only sound one could hear in that room was Eddie's sobbing. Eddie cried and cried, he cried to the point where he almost passed out. That was when it happened. A simple motion that came as a miracle Eddie claims was the best moment of his life.

"...e-eds."

"Oh, my god, Richie! Fuck, where's the call button!?"

Richie's hand had twitched in Eddie's and his voice crept out of his scratchy lungs. Eddie finally found the remote and pounded the red call button, but in the time he had before the nurses and Richie's lead physician came rushing in was just enough. He pulled the mask back and smashed his lips into Richie's. He knew it was stupid; what if they shared germs that made Richie worse and what if his lungs gave in now? Only, Richie smiled weakly and whispered as Eddie pulled away.

"I love you too, Eddie."

Eddie was amazed that Richie had heard his little speech, but glad to know that he was awake. The rest of anything was a huge deal: hospital bills, frantic fans who didn't even know Richie was gay, and some crazy amount of physical therapy for Richie. Yet, the two felt a deep, passionate, untouchable thing that made the physical worries seem pathetic. Why? They finally felt each other's love.


	6. Cold and Hot

Eddie Kaspbrak was getting really tired of Richie's attitude. He was beyond pissed that his best friend had gotten beaten up for the third time in two months. He knew that Richie had a temper and a tendency to attract shady people, but this was annoying as hell. Especially since Richie knew Eddie hated driving in the snow. Having his license for just a few months before the first call from Richie. Eddie cared so much about Richie's lovely parents that he'd hide their son long enough to patch him up and hide his bruises before driving him home and helping to lie about what happened and where they had been. It made Eddie sick to think of how he'd been lying to such kind, compassionate people, but Richie's broken pleas were easy to cave in to for Eddie.

"Fuck you, Trashmouth, I was so close to finishing my winter essay," he muttered as he drove to the spot he knew Richie would be at by now. He always called from the phone booth near the forest and then hid in the Clubhouse. It was inconvenient for Eddie; Richie's newest skills included pissing people off and knowing Eddie would fix things for him. He didn't want to have to walk through the forest in his long jeans and winter coat, but he did it because he was worried about Richie. Stanley had called right after Richie and mentioned him being 'in big trouble this time' which didn't surprise Eddie; it was the fact that Stanley knew and contacted Eddie that scared the short teen more, as usually Stanley laughed at Richie's soreness and sour moods. He rushed to park his car by the side of the road before locking it and trudging into the snow. He found a trail quickly, showing that he was heading right where Richie had been.

"This damn cold snow...I swear I'll give you one more bruise to whine about, Richard Tozier. You couldn't have kept your mouth shut or stopped hanging around weed dealers?"

Eddie didn't have to go far; the place he parked was only a few minutes from the opening to their childhood hideaway. He saw that the snow was cleared from the hatch, so he yanked it open and fussed down as he started to line himself up with the ladder to descend.

"Richie, I swear to fucking gosh, if you didn't at least stop bleeding, I'll….I'll...what the hell is this?!"

Eddie couldn't have imagined this scene in a million years. Richie was in a goddamn suit; tie and tight, shiny shoes and all. He was standing right in front of the hammock, a heater going behind him and a pair of thermos bottles were letting off steam on the small crate nearby. Richie gave Eddie a sly smile and started towards him and if anyone had been watching, they would've seen Eddie's blush would the snow off of his face.

"Sorry to make you worry about me, Eds. You do so much for me...I made you a warm surprise to relax your uptight, bossy attitude."

Eddie didn't even have time to 'beep beep' him. His best friend...no, his lifelong crush, has made a winter getaway out of their childhood fortress and wore clothes that make him look breathtaking.

"R-rich…"

His tears mortified Richie, who stopped the smooth guy act and shuffled over quickly, placing gentle grips into Eddie's arms.

"Eddie, I'm so sorry. Fuck, don't cry! I thought...I won't do this ag-"

"IF YOU DON'T DO THIS AGAIN, I WILL LITERALLY DIE. I LOVE YOU TOO IDIOT!"  
Eddie's moist, cold cheeks hit Richie's warm ones as he was yanked by the tie into a rough kiss. They both gave in to years of pining and dreaming, and for once, Eddie wasn't even mad that he had to drive in the snow.


End file.
